The Modern Scholar: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

By: Thomas F. Madden

Narrated by: Thomas F. Madden

Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Even millennia after its fall, the grand expanse of Roman achievement continues to affect not only American society, but the entire world as well. What caused a civilization of such accomplishments to disintegrate? In this informative and lively series of lectures, renowned history professor Thomas F. Madden serves as the ultimate guide through the fall of ancient Rome. Professor Madden correlates the principles of Roman conduct - both governmental and military - that would forever change the world. Rome was an empire unlike the world had ever seen, and one that will likely never be duplicated. Peopled with personages of great distinction and even greater ambition, at once notable for humanity's great promise and flawed nature, the Roman Empire contributed many of history's proudest advancements. Here Professor Madden invites audiences to explore all the grandeur of this fallen empire.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2008 Thomas F. Madden (P)2008 Recorded Books

Good general survey, a lot of names.

I really didn't know that much about the Roman Empire before listening to this lecture. It provided a fairly good survey from the end of the Republic to the start of the Byzantine Empire.

It was an engaging listen, with lots of interesting events. My only real complaint is that occasionally it gets bogged down in the names and people rather than concentrating on the big picture. But still the overall events still shine through.

I'd recommend this lecture to other people.

A great set of lectures

Professor Maddens' lectures tend to be concise, to the point and enjoyable, it's certainly a lot easier than reading or listening to Decline and Fall of Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons. Having said that, because of the time constraint, he has had to skip a lot of details. I'd suggest trying Cyril Robinson's work to supplement this course.

Great Madden course; prob not for beginners

Overall, this is a wonderful set of lectures by Prof. Madden. I'm in the process of working my way through all of his stuff on Audible; he's that good. That said, this probably isn't where I would start for an understanding of the Roman empire from Julius Caesar forward. As a relative newbie to the history of this period, I found the Great Courses by Fagan (on the Roman Empire and Emperors) and Daileader (Early Middle Ages starts with the late Antique period) a better introduction.

If you know a bit of the story, then this is a great series of lectures and highly recommended. If you like Madden's style, my favorites so far are his lectures on Venice and on Medieval Myths.

Rise & Fall: Emperors, Army, Church & Barbarians

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Although the title says "Decline and Fall," this lecture series is not just a summary of Gibbons' famous work of the same name.

This series focuses on governance and political power. Military History, Scandals, the Arts, Religion, Famous Biographies, Technology, and the Culture of Daily Life are only mentioned if they have direct relevance or influence on the ebb and flow of power during the 500 or so Empire years.

Professor Madden presents a clear and easy to follow explanation of who held power in Rome from the death of the Republic to the Barbarian removal of the last Emperor of the West. He traces the rise and fall of dynastic imperial families like the Julio-Claudians, Flavians and Antonines. He explains the military's power to decide the Emperor of their choice. He explains how prominent Christians went from dying in the arena to living and ruling in the palace. And finally, he illustrates how Rome's international relations with Barbarians led to the final sacking and the end of imperial self-rule.

This lecture series isn't a bells and whistles account of all the crazy things that occurred during the Roman Empire. It's a clear and concise framework that puts the trivia into context. This is basic knowledge that will enrich listeners' understanding of any further encounter with information about the ancient Roman Empire. This is the bare historical foundation that's solid enough to let you build on it as high as you please.

An excellent overview of Roman history

Although the topic of this lecture series is the Decline and Fall, the lectures actually cover the entire period of the Roman Empire, from the end of the Republic, to the end of the succeeding Empire. Professor Madden's lecture style is smooth and fairly fast-paced, and he has an interesting theory about why the Roman Empire eventually collapsed. I'm a Roman history buff, and I really enjoyed listening to these lectures. Definitely well-worth my time!

Excellent Detailed Series of Lectures

Professor Madden is well verse in the subject matter that he is presenting. The lectures follow a logical order that is detailed with facts often not covered in other lecture series. The history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is impressive and easy to follow. Professor Madden makes the history come alive to the listener. I highly recommend this series of lectures on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for the beginner or the expert on the subject. I will certainly be buying another one of Professor Madden's Lecture audio books.

Good for a review

This book is really like attending a class lecture--replete with slips and the normal repetitions one hears in lectures. I'm not sure it's a great start if you know nothing about Roman history. But as a refresher course or an overview if you plan to read more, it's pretty good. There are a couple of annoying pronunciations (Pompey gets pronounced as if it were the city Pompeii). They are good lectures--interesting and easy to listen to.

Disaster

Unconnected, disorganized vignettes, truncated and riddled with errors and misspeaks. The reviewer who mentioned the lack of any "big picture" is entirely correct.

Entertaining

It surely doesn't go into details about everything but that's a good thing. Good narration. Makes you feel you are in a classroom listening to a great teacher.

Fails to come together

The lectures start out reviewing some ideas that have been suggested over the years for the fall of Rome: maybe it was the decadence or the rise of Christianity or the Barbarians... A lot of these are rejected on the argument that they apply equally well to the Eastern Empire, which lasted till 1453, as to the Western, which fell in 476. I find this argument less than fully convincing, but I was willing to accept it provisionally, awaiting the author's preferred thesis to be given at the end. Except he never does give one.

Instead the book is basically a litany of emperors and generals. The sort of thing that perhaps you're required to know for the test if you're studying to be a card-carrying historian, but which is of limited interest or use to the rest of us. The lectures start (following the part where he throws out and rejects various theories) with Julius Caeser and the Julio-Caludians, and if you know at least the outlines of that part of the story, as many of us do, things start to get pretty boring. But then he passes through that bunch and there's 4-5 more hours of so-and-so succeeded so-and-so, and you realize that hey, this never ending parade of emperors actually continued for like 400 years and was pretty well recorded. You also realize there's a reason no one's ever made an "I, Pupienus". Seriously, there's dozens of these guys you've never heard of and don't care about.

And Madden is just not a great lecturer. He's not terrible, but he seems to sigh a lot, which made me feel like he was disappointed in me as a listener. More likely, he was bored with his own story, because it's boring.

The unfulfilled promise of this program is to get at the deep causes of the fall of Rome. Madden's basic story is that the fundamental failure in Rome was a constitutional one, failing to specify the order of succession, which led perpetual rivalries between claimants to the throne. Perhaps, but given his own dismissal of stories that work just as well in the east as west, he never really explains why this explanation should pass that test. I'd also like to hear what other historians say on this topic; Madden mentions Gibbons, but doesn't say much about him, or anyone else's analysis. Basically, I kept waiting for the analysis lecture to come, and it simply doesn't.

It has a much broader focus, but if you're interested in this topic in general, let me suggest Ian Morris' recent book "Why the West Rules for Now". That one may leave you not knowing the Latin names of all the trees--err, emperors--but at least it acknowledges the forest.

Another Madden Hit

Would you consider the audio edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to be better than the print version?

No printed version; these are lectures.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A. These are lecture about history.

What about the narrator’s performance did you like?

Relaxed, informal, funny in a deadpan type of manner.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not necessarily, it covers over 600 years of history.

Any additional comments?

This must be the 5th or 6th lecture series from Professor Madden, and I loved each one. He is knowledgeable, tongue-in-cheek funny and makes history come alive.

Who would be a Roman Emperor?

As others have noted this is primarily a discussion of political power & dynastic succession. The essential problem being who takes over from the last emperor when their reign comes to an end. Prof. Madden does an excellent job of making the subject interesting. And it is interesting. But at times you wish he would generalise a bit more and discuss instead the social & cultural issues resulting from Rome's decline. What for instance happened to all the Roman citizens living in provinces like Britain & Gaul which were conquered by Germanic tribes? Also recommended on this subject is Mike Duncan's "The Storm Before The Storm". Lecture titles in Madden's audiobook below.

1. The Decline and Fall of What?
2. The Sick Republic
3. The Augustan Revolution
4. The Julio-Claudian Emperors
5. Instability and War
6. Order Restored: The Five Good Emperors, 96–180
7. Military Dictatorship
8. The Spreading Anarchy, 235–284
09. Diocletian and the Reform of Empire
10. Constantine and the Conversion of Empire
11. The New Threat of Heresy
12. Theodosius and His Successors
13. The Fall of Rome
14. Rome After Rome

Great insight

A very considered narration of an important subject in history. What I most enjoyed about this audio book was the amount of background knowledge on the Caesars who ruled Rome.
I would recommend this audio for anyone interested in the fall and fall of man's greatest empire.

Informative

This set of lectures is a good way to learn about the later history of the Roman Empire.